St. John's Big East men's basketball schedule highlighted by matchups vs. rival UConn

While the college basketball season is taking shape against a backdrop of uncertainly, with many top players’ eligibility being sorted out in court cases and looming potential federal legislation, there is one thing St. John’s fans can be certain of: they need to plan around Jan. 29 and March 2.

Those are the dates that the Red Storm and Connecticut – the two conference favorites – will be facing off, according to the Big East’s schedule of conference game dates and sites released on Monday morning.

The first is a Friday night date at the Garden, a game that always ranks among the most anticipated of the college basketball season. The second is a Tuesday, perhaps in Hartford, and the Storm’s final regular-season game. It could be consequential in determining the Big East regular-season champion, though UConn will still have one game remaining.

The Big East’s release has dates and sites for the 2026-27 conference schedule, with times and broadcast partners to be announced at a later date. As Newsday first reported, St. John’s is expanding its portfolio of games at the Garden and, for the first time in recent memory, will not play any of its 10 Big East home games at Carnesecca Arena, its on-campus venue.

The schedule shows St. John’s looking at a landscape that has sort of a good news/bad news look. The Storm will play five of their first seven conference games on the road but faces few of the programs that likely project in the preseason to make the NCAA Tournament. It closes with five of its last seven conference games at the Garden but against teams with higher ceilings. In the middle is a grueling stretch including the Huskies at the Garden.

Maybe three seasons isn’t enough to declare a pattern, but thus far, we’ve seen something common in each of Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino’s years at St. John’s.

First, there is major roster reconstruction in the offseason. Next, there’s an acclimation stage over the first two months of play when the Red Storm plays a challenging non-conference schedule and its first Big East games where St. John’s not only shows how high a ceiling it could reach, but also occasionally stumbles as the players learn each other and their roles.

And eventually there is the metamorphosis stage when the Red Storm becomes a Big East force and capable of taking out any team, anywhere. This stage was especially entertaining the past two seasons. In each, St. John’s won 19 of its final 20 against conference opponents to capture the Big East regular-season and tournament championships before Selection Sunday.

Before the Red Storm even gets into conference play, they have a tough non-conference schedule filled with opponents, like them, that will be national ranked. That slate includes Garden dates with Syracuse and an Arizona team coming off a Final Four appearance, a road game with Alabama in Birmingham and at least three games against a loaded field at the Players Era Festival during Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas.

St. John’s opens conference play Dec. 19 against DePaul, which was a very tough competitor last season but viewed in the bottom half of this vastly improved Big East. Over a month’s time, the Red Storm plays five road games, has two contests with rival Providence and a meeting in Omaha with Creighton.

Then, they will truly be tested in a four-game stretch over two weeks as January ebbs into February with three tough road games around the huge game against Connecticut at the Garden. It starts with a road game against Richard Pitino’s Xavier team on Jan. 26 and the UConn date is followed by road games at Marquette and Villanova on Feb 2 and 6, respectively.

The Storm will need to hold form and be playing their best basketball of the season in February and March as it has few easy marks, though plenty of home games.

St. John’s doesn’t play on the final weekend of conference play and thus has at least a week before it opens in the Big East Tournament. The conference tournament at the Garden starts with first-round games March 10 and concludes with the title game on March 13. Selection Sunday is March 14 and the NCAA Tournament, with its expanded 76-team format, commences the following Tuesday with games in Dayton and Wichita.

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.